Mott MacDonald has been appointed as owner’s engineer for the 67MW Hopefield Wind Farm in South Africa’s Western Cape province.

Developer Umoya Energy has appointed the consultancy to deliver owner’s engineering services during the construction period for Hopefield Wind Farm, which was successfully bid in Round 1 of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer’s (REIPP) procurement programme. Hopefield will be one of the first wind farms constructed in South Africa under this programme which is being led by the Department of Energy. The development will consist of 37 1.8MW turbines and be located within the Saldanha Bay municipality on 2200ha of farm land.

“We are looking forward to working with Umoya Energy and the other partners for this development. It’s exciting to be part of South Africa’s burgeoning renewables industry. Hopefield will be one of the first wind farms to be built under the REIPP programme, which has stimulated market investment here in exactly the way it was intended,” commented Jason Rowan, manager of Mott MacDonald’s power business in South Africa.

Richard Gordon, CEO at Umoya Energy said: “Umoya Energy is proud to be a successful REIPPP Round 1 bidder and congratulates the RSA Department of Energy for running a world-class procurement process. We are pleased to have formed a partnership with Mott MacDonald for the provision of engineering services for Hopefield Wind Farm. The interactions to date have reinforced our decision and we look forward to an ongoing mutually beneficial relationship with Mott MacDonald.”

Mott MacDonald has been delivering engineering services to the renewables industry in South Africa since 2009 and has steadily increased its Johannesburg-based team of renewables engineers in response to market demand. The company’s global power resources include over 1900 engineers with more than 150 renewables engineers working worldwide for owners, developers and contractors, as well as regulators and funders.